Working Cables without a Cable Needle

Here’s a short video about working cables without a cable needle, my preferred method. I love working cables, but don’t like fiddling with the cable needle. I’m able to work most cable crosses as long as they are a 4 stitch by 4 stitch cross or smaller. For some of the more complicated cable crossings I need to bring out the needle, but for most projects no needle works just fine. Here’s the video followed by some written instructions. Hope you enjoy!

If instruction says “slip to cable needle and hold in BACK”

• Guide your right needle in FRONT of the stitches on your left needle

• Skip over the number of stitches for the cable needle and pick up the next number of stitches to be knit

• Let the two “cable” stitches drop off the right needle to the back and quickly pick them up with your left needle

• Put the stitches you moved to right needle back on the left needle

• Work all the stitches

If instruction says “slip to cable needle and hold in FRONT”

• Guide your right needle BEHIND the stitches on your left needle

• Skip over the number of stitches for the cable needle and pick up the next number of stitches to be knit

• Let the two “cable” stitches drop off the right needle to the front and quickly pick them up with your left needle

• Put the stitches you moved to right needle back on the left needle

• Work all the stitches

•

Geiger Cardigan: Blocking Front to Dimensions

Here are a series of photos of me blocking one of the Fronts of the Geiger Cardigan.

Geiger Cardigan: Blocking a Sleeve to Dimensions

Here are a bunch of photos of me blocking a sleeve for the Brooklyn Tweed Geiger Cardigan.

Geiger Cardigan: Blocking the Back to Dimensions

This post will show A LOT of photos of me blocking the back of the Geiger Cardigan to the pattern dimensions. The process of blocking all the pieces is pretty much the same. Follow-on blog posts will show photo collages of blocking the fronts and the sleeves.

These are various pieces of my Geiger Cardigan soaking in cold water and Eucalan in the sink. Cover with water and let soak at least 1/2 an hour. I’ve been known to leave overnight with no ill effects.

Carefully lift your pieces out of the water using BOTH hands (my other hand was holding the camera). Gently squish out as much excess water as you can without wringing or aggressively treating your work.

Arrange the pieces on a fluffy, absorbent bath towel and roll it up.

Step on the towel all over to squeeze out as much moisture as possible. It’s a good idea to do this once more. Get a fresh towel, rearrange the pieces, roll up and step again.

I usually block directly on to the carpet in my knitting room. If you have blocking boards or a mattress or another convenient place you like to work, use that. Bring your pieces to your blocking location. Have stainless steel (not nickle-plated) pins on hand as well as one or two straight-edge rulers. You’ll need your pattern page with the sweater dimensions open and your size highlighted.

This is the back of the Geiger sweater. I choose a part of the sweater that’s a straight line and begin there. In this case, I start with the bottom of the sweater. I line it up to a straight line on my carpet (how convenient) as well as against my straight edge. I coax the width of the sweater to the correct dimensions. I pin the exact middle of the spine to half the bottom dimension and then evenly pin the sweater across this edge.

A word of note: I’m using the yarn the pattern called for, Brooklyn Tweed Arbor. It’s a fantastic yarn, but be warned that it stretches A LOT when wet. Coaxing into dimensions when blocking is very important.

This is how the bottom looks completely pinned. I spaced my pins about an inch apart.

Next I worked on the side edge. It’s not a straight line, so I started by measuring out the total dimension and placing a pin at the top and bottom edge at the proper length. I then did the same on the other edge.

Since I know that the bottom ribbing is a straight section, I next pinned the sides of the ribbing. I made sure that the bottom of the sweater and the parallel top of the ribbing were the same width.

The other straight line on the Geiger back is the center spine. I lined up my straight edge along the spine and pinned about every inch. I already determined where the middle of the sweater was when I pinned the bottom. So, I just measure perpendicularly up the spine and keep a straight line for the dimension noted in the pattern, coaxing where necessary.

This is the center spine pinned to dimensions.

This is a good time to start coaxing your cables into looking pretty. As you’re pinning the rest of the sweater keep looking for opportunities to arrange the cables in a pleasing manner. Give them straight lines where needed and flesh out the curves.

The rest of the blocking is a process of measuring and pinning to get the everything to match up. The back is symmetric, so anything you do on one half, you need to duplicate on the other. The next couple of pictures show a collage of the process of completing blocking the back.

This collage shows the process of pinning out the sides. I measured from the spine to the outer edge in various places and ensured that both edges matched. Since the spine is a straight line, it’s a good point of reference for measuring.

These photos show blocking the arm hole and the top of the back.

This last photo shows the back completely blocked.

After your pieces are completely blocked, allow them to dry COMPLETELY. I usually allow mine to dry at least 48 hours. I have a ceiling fan in my knitting room that can speed the process along a bit, but I still think 48 hours is safe. You want your pieces completely dry before un-pinning.

I hope this visual tour of the process was helpful to you. Please ask any questions in the comments! And look for more pictures of the other pieces blocking in the near future!

Geiger Cardigan: Dropping and Re-Building Cables

Here’s a video on how to drop down and re-build cables if you make mistakes.

Geiger Cardigan: Reading Cable Charts

The Geiger Cardigan by Norah Gaughan from Brooklyn Tweed is a highly-cabled cardigan. The pattern contains many, many charts, and knowing how to interpret the symbols without always having to refer to the words will end up making knitting easier and saving you a lot of time.

Here’s a video guide on how to interpret the charts.

Note: This refers to the Geiger pattern. Other patterns my use different symbols. Consult your pattern key.

Geiger Cardigan: Methods for Working Cables

I recorded a series of videos on four different methods for working cables:

1. Using a cable need and knitting off of the cable needle

2. Using a cable needle and transferring to left needle

3. Using a cable needle and swapping stitches

4. Without a cable needle (my favorite!!!)

Geiger Cardigan: Rib Cabled Cast On

Here’s a video demonstrating the Rib Cabled Cast On used for the Geiger Cardigan, by Norah Gaughan from Brooklyn Tweed. This cast on is used for the back, fronts and sleeves. The cast on, along with the first two set-up rows, makes a nice rounded edge and keeps the ribbing from flaring. Enjoy!

Note: The info I give in the video for the two set-up rounds is for the sleeves. The instructions are a little different for the body and fronts.

Geiger Cardigan: Cable Gauge Swatches

Preparing for the Geiger Cardigan, I knitted two swatches. One was based on the Lower Left Sleeve Chart (page 24), and one used the Upper Left-Leaning Cable Chart (page 21).

This post will give instructions for these two different swatches and will show how I measured gauge.

NOTE: The page numbers in the PDF that I downloaded from Ravelry are different from the page numbers in the printed version you may have purchased from your local yarn shop. When in doubt refer to the title text, not the page number.

Swatch #1: Rib Cabled Cast On, Lower-Left Sleeve and Picot Bind Off

Here’s a photo of the completed swatch:

Instructions for Swatch #1:

I used US 5 (3.75mm) needle (based on my SS swatch) and Brooklyn Tweed Arbor in Humpback colorway.

1. Following LEFT SLEEVE instructions on page 17, cast on 71 sts using the Rib Cabled Cast On as described in “Special Techniques” section of the pattern on page 27.

2. Work “Next Row (RS)”

3. Work “Next Row (WS)”

4. Work the WORK RIBBING section:

   1. Work “Next Row (RS)” This is a row with a decrease taking you down to 70 sts.

   2. Work “Next Row (WS)”

   3. Work “Next Row (RS)”

   4. Go back and work “Next Row (WS)” one more time.

5. Work the BEGIN MAIN FABRIC AND SHAPE SLEEVE section. (Starts at Row 1 of the “Lower Left Sleeve Chart” on page 24.)

   1. Work “Sleeve Increase Row (RS) WITHOUT DOING THE m1 INCREASES.

   2. Work “Next Row (WS)”

   3. Work “Next Row (RS)”

   4. Work “Next Row (WS)”

   5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have completed row 40 of the “Lower Left Sleeve Chart. “

6. Bind off using the Picot Bind Off method described in the next to the last step on page 19.

7. Block the swatch and allow to completely dry.

8. The bottom of the swatch measured across the 56 stitches from the “Lower Left Sleeve Chart” should measure 6 1/2 inches as shown in this photo:

Swatch #2: Upper Left-Leaning Cable

Here’s a photo of the completed swatch:

Instructions for Swatch #2:

I used US 5 (3.75mm) needles with Brooklyn Tweed Arbor in the Vintner colorway. This is the color I chose for the sweater.

1. Cast on 38 sts.

2. (RS) Work 5 sts in seed stitch, place marker, work row 1 of “Upper Left-Leaning Cable Chart,” place marker, work 5 sts in seed stitch.

3. (WS) Work 5 sts in seed stitch, slip marker, work row 2 of “Upper Left-Leaning Cable Chart,” slip marker, work 5 sts in seed stitch.

4. Continue working “Upper Left-Leaning Cable Chart” bounded by 5 stitches of seed stitch on each end until you have completed 32 rows of the chart.

5. Bind off in pattern.

6. Block and allow to dry completely.

7. The bottom of the chart should measure 3 inches wide across the 28 stitches in the “Upper Left-Leaning Cable Chart” as shown in this photo below:

Geiger Cardigan: Measuring SS Gauge

I’ll be teaching a class on the Geiger Cardigan by Norah Gaughn at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop in Hillsborough, NC starting in May 2019. This video covers how to measure and calculate gauge on the stockinette stitch swatch for this pattern.

For stockinette stitch gauge swatch:

•       Cast on 30 sts

•       Work 40 rows in stockinette stitch (k all stitches in 1 row, p all stitches in next row, repeat)

•       Block swatch and allow to thoroughly dry

To mark for measuring:

•       Weave contrasting lighter-weight yarn into right side

•       Weave contrasting lighter-weight yarn into left side

•       Weave contrasting lighter-weight yarn into bottom row

•       Weave contrasting lighter-weight yarn into top row

To measure and calculate stitch gauge:

•       Measure from left to right yarn to 1/8 of an inch (inches)

•       Count number of stitches from left to right yarn (sts)

•       Divide number of stitches by inches (sts/in)

•       Multiply sts/in x 4 (sts per 4 inches)

To measure and calculate row gauge:

•       Measure from bottom to top yarn to 1/8 of an inch (inches)

•       Count number of rows from bottom to top yarn (rows)

•       Divide number of rows by inches (rows/in)

•       Multiply rows/in x 4 (rows per 4 inches)

 Here is a photo of the swatch blocking: